Heart health discussion kicks off new program

Angela Bowden said the Heart Focus program at Springhill Baptist Church provided her with the information she needs to cure her hypertension.

Bowden was one of a handful of people who attended Health Serves: Humana Heart Focus, the first program in the Health and Wellness Community Impact Series at Springhill Baptist Church. Held last Wednesday, the program was facilitated by Dr. Kamal Singh, an internal medicine physician at SIMED, or Southeastern Integrated Medical. Singh provided an interactive discussion that covered heart disease, its causes, how to prevent it and tips for a healthy lifestyle. He also took questions from participants. The program was sponsored by Humana and hosted by Springhill.

Bowden said the program exceeded her expectations because it gave her tools she can use to beat hypertension. “I learned you can change your lifestyle and get off your meds,” said Bowden. “Just to hear that if I work hard to change my lifestyle, I can be cured of hypertension with diet and exercise. It’s awesome. I’m already taking steps, but it’s hard.”

Minister Kenneth Graham of Springhill said the program is part of the newly established Springhill Impact Program, which was born out of a need to get important information to the community. He said Springhill offered the use of its facility.

“We want to be involved,” Graham said. “The facility sits here (so) why not use it to funnel information. We want people to have information Monday to Friday, and not just on Sundays.”

Marie D. Small, program manager for the Alachua County Community Stabilization program, said the need to offer programs to impact the community came out of a meeting to assess the needs of the community that was organized by Karen Cole-Smith, executive director of Santa Fe College East Gainesville Instruction and Community Outreach.

“Assistant City Manager Fred Murry wanted to do programs for the community and parishioners,” Small said. “We have to come out of our offices and come to the people.”

Valerie Herring called the program very informative and said it inspired her to make some changes.

While noting heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States, Singh said the heart is a muscle that does not age nor stops pumping, but a disease of the heart can impair its ability to function. He said it’s important to control heart disease before it leads to a heart attack or stroke.

“Blood pressure affects the heart directly,” said Singh.

Singh said a healthy heart is important to manage your condition (whether diabetes and hypertension), maintain a healthy weight, stay active, eat heart healthy foods and avoid smoking, which he said is linked to almost every type of cancer.

“Quitting smoking is very hard, but it can be done,” Singh said. “Second-hand smoke is just as bad.”